“With Ashley Cole, he’s the only left-back we have so we have to take care of him,” Mourinho said.

“He’ll be back only in very, very safe conditions.

“Normally, he will go into the team next week when we go back to London and hopefully he’ll start the season in the match against Manchester United for the Charity Shield.”

Meanwhile, the Chelsea boss will continue to mix and match his squad in the second game of their US tour against Suwon Bluewings in Los Angeles tonight.

Chelsea opened their pre-season campaign in northern California on Saturday night with a 2-1 victory over Mexico’s Club America that saw Mourinho make 10 changes at half-time with only captain John Terry playing the full 90 minutes.

He plans to give all his players a similar run-out at the Home Depot Center and will seek to utilise two wingers against the Korean side.

That means a central midfielder will lose his place in the starting line-up but Mourinho insisted Michael Essien would definitely not be the one missing out.

“We want to play with people wide so there will be one less man in the centre of midfield and for that you need him (Essien),” Mourinho said.

“I think the team is much more powerful, much more dominant when Michael is playing.

“I’m going to play two different teams and two different formations and Michael will be playing in the first half and he will play with Frank Lampard so I look forward to seeing them play together.”

Mourinho feels the Koreans will offer a suitable challenge for his players.

“I’m happy to play them at this stage because they’re a good team,” he said.

“They play good football, they pass the ball and technically they are good so this is the type of match that is good for us.

“Our first match against Club America was also positive for us and I think at this stage, the Bluewings will give us the game we need to improve.

“This is the type of match we need at this moment to achieve our objectives.”